Everyone and their mother has heard of the famous TikTok app, which allows anyone to post videos or pictures of anything they want. TikTok has everything you could think of: dances, sports, food, tutorials, education, humor, entertainment, and so much more. Why has it been threatened to get banned so many times, and is it ever actually getting banned?
To me, TikTok is modern-day television and so any kind of disturbance of it would really hurt people — not just creators — because people really enjoy it, — Jonathan Cheban.
What many may not know is that TikTok was not always TikTok. It started its journey as an app called Musical.ly back in 2014. However, in 2018, it underwent a significant transformation and emerged as the TikTok we know today. Musical.ly was an app that mostly involved individuals lip-syncing to songs and posting funny videos. Later, when TikTok came along, it wasn’t as free-going and positive. TikTok has become the biggest platform, but that has also led to many consequences that TikTok and its users would face.
TikTok has captured an estimated 50 million American users' attention each month, making it one of the most popular apps in the country. Many are concerned about what young children and teenagers post and see on TikTok. In 2021, a study of high school students showed that overusing TikTok has created tremendous problems with memory loss, depression, anxiety, and stress. Despite concerns about children and teens' mental health, privacy, and security threats are the main reasons TikTok has been threatened to get banned.
The House approved a bill that would force the owners of TikTok to either sell the social media app or face a practical ban in the U.S. TikTok poses privacy and security threats due to the power the Chinese government has over TikTok owner ByteDance in the Cayman Islands and based in Beijing. However, many believe the bill won’t pass in court because the app has a powerful backer in former President Trump. Republicans, who would usually pass any bill to eliminate any Chinese influence are torn on the TikTok proposal.
Banning TikTok in the U.S. would not completely diminish the app. Individuals who already have TikTok on their cell phones would still be able to access It, but updates would not be available, so the app would eventually become unusable. Banning TikTok would also allow others who have non-U.S. sources of phone software to have full access to the app and its updates. Therefore, banning TikTok only in the U.S. would not eliminate the app as a whole.
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